My Blow Out and the Flat Iron

So last semester I flat ironed my hair….that didn’t work out so well and everybody was saying that I might need to blow out my hair first so I set my dreams aside until the time finally came that I felt I could do it all again without really damaging my hair.

After all that hard work I was massively disappointed!

I feel as if black hair is supposed to be so versatile but I can’t go from kinky to straight if I wanted to and so I just feel as though I’m lacking that other option in texture. It’s not about being straight per se, it’s about having the option and I’m the type of gal that likes to have options. However, even if my hair did go straight I think I’d feel guilty every time for wearing it straight. I was hoping to have it straight enough where I could have someone trim it in a layered style so that when I reverted back to kinky there would be some kind of uniformity; at this moment my hair is all over the place in terms of length. Another thing for me is length, my kinked up hair is annoying the tail out of me! I’m near or over six inches in many places but one couldn’t tell because I kink up so much….*grumble, grumble, moan, moan*. This makes me seriously consider locking my hair. I just want the length.

Since this try didn’t work I’ve given up like the video said and in three to six months I’ll go to the “professionals” to get my hair heat straightened. I’m wary of so called professionals since they have a tendency to be strong willed and to mess things up.

Like this:

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someone earlier said to use a barrel blow dryer with a COMB. that’s what i’ve done whenever i wanted to straighten my hair. then i used a flat iron by tool science (that’s a brand) that i got from sally’s. it was like $80. you’ll spend at least that much on a good flat iron (unless it’s on sale). just be careful not to use too much heat though, otherwise it will permanently change the texture of your hair (may sound tempting to some, but then you’ll get the “new growth” effect as with a perm; not a good idea).

also, always remember TIP to ROOT (you guys may have done this…just didnt see it in the video) otherwise, your hair will damage.

all in all, i think how straight you get your hair depends on several factors including the types of tools you use (blow dryer, flat iron, brush, etc.), the right conditioner and how much of it you use.

as far as getting length (without having to loc up), you may want to work with styles that protect your ends and help keep moisture locked in (like two strand twists for example). i have 4…somthing (a, b, c, i dunno) hair, and i struggled with growing it for a while. it’s really starting growing in the last 9 months or so b/c i’ve been wearing it in styles that keep it sealed.

My daughter has the same gorgeous thick hair, and I actually blow dried her hair this weekend. I do recommend the deep conditioning before blow drying. Plus, I don’t make her hair as straight as the salon would, because I do not want all that heat on her hair. Basically, I blow her hair out using an ionic blow drier, on a low heat setting with a comb (not a brush) . Then I flat iron, again on a low setting. I use the babyliss flat iron. agian not perfectly straight but great to style. PS – I’ve only blow dry / flat iron her hair 2 times and I used this method both times.

but like.. you haven’t said if you conditioned your hair or w/e . normally natural girls deep condition or hot oil treat or something before they straighten..
ALSO the angle that she is holding that blow-dryer looks, from this angle, to be backwards. like she had the wind blowing against the hair shaft which is horrible, especially given how close it was. Maybe its just the angle.

could you show step by step pics next time? the sections of hair flat ironed weren’t shown for example, nor did you mention the heat setting or type of flat iron

anyways minimal heat damaged straight hair= a lot of time n normally some sort of preliminary stretching sooo good luck

You are quite right, some times I’m an in depth documenter but sometimes I worry that people are like does she have to spell out everything… next time I’ll take photos and video; however, the video was taken for thenaturalGmonet, she edited it and stuff and did the talking…will bear you advice in mind too- the direction of the air could be a problem as well as the lack of preliminary stretching…unfortunately I can’t remember what I did to my hair prior…will take note of these things next time…thanks for your comment

I just want to commend you for attempting to experiment with the blow out. I have 4B hair and just the thought of doing it on my own or having a friend help is intimidating. I had my hair blown out professionally about 3 months ago for the first time and was very satisfied with how straight and shiny it was. It was still a long daunting process though; from the protein treatment to the blow out to the flat iron press and then styling…OMG! 4 hours later I had straight hair that only lasted me 3 days but that’s b/c I workout..sigh. It was cute while it lasted though! At any rate, I say try it again in a few months and got to someone who specializes in natural hair so that they are careful not to fry your hair. Its so frustrating to have to go through all of this to sport your length….

After detangling your wet hair, what about banding your hair or a rollerset to stretch it and then flat ironing. I think it would be less indirect heat. I dunno how much it would help or how well it would turn out (I’m a transitioner with hair just like yours that’s why I love this site)

Thanks for your great comment and suggestion….I have thought about using a rollerset but its so time consuming and I just feel resigned that my hair will always have some kind of kink to it…it never even went completely straight when it was creamy- cracked so I have my doubts about methods which aren’t similarly caustic lol…